Energy Internet and eVehicles Overview

Governments around the world are wrestling with the challenge of how to prepare society for inevitable climate change. To date most people have been focused on how to reduce Green House Gas emissions, but now there is growing recognition that regardless of what we do to mitigate against climate change the planet is going to be significantly warmer in the coming years with all the attendant problems of more frequent droughts, flooding, sever storms, etc. As such we need to invest in solutions that provide a more robust and resilient infrastructure to withstand this environmental onslaught especially for our electrical and telecommunications systems and at the same time reduce our carbon footprint.

Linking renewable energy with high speed Internet using fiber to the home combined with autonomous eVehicles and dynamic charging where vehicle's batteries are charged as it travels along the road, may provide for a whole new "energy Internet" infrastructure for linking small distributed renewable energy sources to users that is far more robust and resilient to survive climate change than today's centralized command and control infrastructure. These new energy architectures will also significantly reduce our carbon footprint. For more details please see:

Using autonomous eVehicles for Renewable Energy Transportation and Distribution: http://goo.gl/bXO6x and http://goo.gl/UDz37

Free High Speed Internet to the Home or School Integrated with solar roof top: http://goo.gl/wGjVG

High level architecture of Internet Networks to survive Climate Change: https://goo.gl/24SiUP

Architecture and routing protocols for Energy Internet: http://goo.gl/niWy1g

How to use Green Bond Funds to underwrite costs of new network and energy infrastructure: https://goo.gl/74Bptd

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Obama Adviser Looks At Deploying National U.S. Broadband Network

[As I have mentioned several times in my postings there is soon going to be a huge pot of money available to pay for several national broadband networks, as well as cyber-infrastructure facilities in the US and possibly elsewhere.

The Waxman-Markey bill wending its way through Congress will require that utilities purchase $1.25 in carbon offsets for every $1.00 they spend on emission permits (although its not clear whether this will apply to the free permits that are proposed to be allocated under the bill)

Broadband networks and cyber-infrastructure can go a long way in helping reduce the US carbon footprint. Estimates of 15-20% overall reduction of CO2 are possible through virtualization and dematerialization using broadband networks.

Qualifying these reductions as high quality offsets as per the Waxman-Markey bill will more than pay for a national broadband rollout.

On June 1st CANARIE will launch its long awaited Green IT Pilot program which will help Canadian universities, industries and R&E networks learn how to develop the necessary protocols under ISO 14064 to make cyber-infrastructure and broadband networks eligible to earn such carbon offsets.

The Waxman-Markey bill could result in hundreds of billions of dollars in carbon offsets.

Thanks to Eric Lee for this pointer on posting from Gordon Cook’s Arch-econ list—BSA]

Bill



TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Obama Adviser Looks At U.S.-Built Broadband Network

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
by David Hatch

A senior adviser to President Obama is touting the idea of spending
tens of billions of dollars in public funds to build a nationwide,
state-of-the-art broadband network featuring speeds 100 times faster
than today's technology.

While there has been no formal Obama administration commitment to such
infrastructure investment, Susan Crawford, special assistant to the
president for science, technology and innovation policy, has said she
is "personally intrigued" by an ambitious plan by Australian Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd.

His plan proposes a public-private partnership that would invest up to
$33 billion over eight years to build and operate a fiber-optic
broadband network reaching 90 percent of homes and workplaces.
Wireless and satellite technology would be used to reach the remaining
10 percent in the outback.

Obama and congressional Democrats have backed a $7.2 billion cash
infusion to stimulate domestic broadband investment as part of this
year's economic stimulus package, but experts have acknowledged that
gaps in availability and bandwidth will remain, with pockets of the
United States left with no service or antiquated technology.

Proponents of Australia's program argue that the government-subsidized
network promises myriad opportunities for online businesses and
enhancements to energy efficiency, media distribution and public
safety.

A chief concern here is that a public broadband network would be
costly -- upward of $430 billion. While U.S. consumers would benefit
from the increased competition and lower monthly rates, they would
foot the bill through tax dollars.

"I think it's a pipe dream at this point," said a telecommunications
industry source, who added, "Good luck finding the money in this
fiscal environment."

Other industry sources also cautioned that a government-subsidized
network might dissuade private sector investment, leaving Americans
with fewer options down the road. "You can't just build it and you're
done," one critic cautioned, emphasizing the government would have to
spend billions on upgrades and would be saddled with customer service
responsibilities. "The government's continually going to have this
'white whale' it's going to have to keep pouring money into."

As the FCC prepares a national broadband strategy to be presented to
Congress by Feb. 17, there's already speculation that the agency -- at
the prodding of the White House -- will give serious thought to
adapting Australia's model for the United States.

Crawford, a member of Obama's National Economic Council, raised
eyebrows when she discussed Australia's plan at a policy forum in
April.

"Simply put, a digital economy requires fiber, and Australia is making
the determination that for that to work it will require a utility
approach," Crawford said, noting that Singapore is making a similar
investment and Britain and the Netherlands are exploring the concept.

"These governments understand that a wholesale network can deliver
massive social and economic benefits," she said, referring to capacity
that would be made available to carriers at reduced rates. (For a
fuller version of this article, go to CongressDaily's TechCentral at
http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressdaily/techcentral/.)

The Challenge of Smart Grids - a rallying cry to R&E networks and Internet community

[There has been a lot of news in the press recently about SMART electrical grids. Cisco recently announced that Smart Grids will eclipse the size of the Internet and Google announced its plans to launch Home Energy Management software. Even some telephone companies are looking to get into the business of home energy management. Can you imagine the same companies that brought you the two tiered Internet, are now going scaling up to bring you the two tiered electrical grid. Not only do they want to manage your Internet application but they want apply the same mindset to managing your appliances.

The big challenge with today’s Smart Grids strategy is that it is all based on managing peak load and are designed around a “gosplan” utility megawatt mindset architecture of huge centralized databases for the acquisition, management and control of consumers meters and appliances. (Another aspect of Smart grids is for utilities to better manage their own infrastructure which makes sense, but that is separate issue than managing consumer devices) .The main beneficiary is not the consumer but the utility operator in avoiding having to build new power plants for peak load. The environmental benefits are minimal and the savings to the consumer are marginal (around 10%) based on data from the Smart Grid trial at PNNL in Washington State. There are also huge challenges with respect to security as outlined by Rahul Tongia at CMU in his e-mail on Dave Farber’s IPer list. Imagine if someone hacked such a network and were able to turn off and on your appliances and electricity at will.

Innovation rarely comes from large monopolies like electrical utilities and telcos. But the Internet research and education community has a long of history of innovation particularly in adopting principles of the Internet in terms of intelligence at the edge and broadband network infrastructure as exemplified in the excellent paper “Unleashing Waves of Innovation” http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/comments/488.pdf. R&E networks around the world have been instrumental in network innovation and working with communities in broadband infrastructure such as initiatives led by Educause, Internet 2, NLR, KAREN, i2Cat, etc. I believe the same organizations have the capability, infrastructure and knowledge to pioneer new techniques for smart grids built around the principle of intelligence at the edge and customer control. Universities, schools and research institutions in partnership with R&E networks are well suited to work with communities on exploring new architectures and solution for Smart grids that will have genuine benefits for the consumer (as opposed to the utility) as well as the environment.

Germany happens to be a world leader in this area and has many great examples of new smart grid architectures where consumers can also supply power to the grid. The 5th estate video compares and contrasts the German approach to what is largely happening in North America. In Germany consumers can arrange for their own meter independent of the utility and subscribe to different energy providers. Thanks to John Spence and Frank Coluccio for these pointers – BSA]


Great 5th estate video on green in Germany versus Canada in Smart grids and renewable energy http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2008-2009/the_gospel_of_green/video.html


Opportunity is promising, but utility cooperation will be the challenge

By Sean Buckley | Telecommunications Magazine | March 31, 2009

"As I head out to CTIA to help host our one-day Machine to Machine: Show me the Money panel series, it’s hard not to notice reports that Verizon is considering the idea of adding energy management services as one of the services it could offer over a home network connected to its FiOS FTTH service. Other than saying they will offer videoconferencing, Verizon has not formally confirmed a plan for an energy management service. I don’t think the idea of a telco like Verizon, or any service provider for that matter, offering energy management is far-fetched. Service providers, especially those like Verizon and their RBOC counterparts (AT&T and Qwest) are looking to find new ways to differentiate themselves and avoid having others leverage their connections into the home for applications they don’t control."

[Indeed!]

Cont.: http://www.telecommagazine.com/newsglobe/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_5074


Rahul Tongia tongia@cmu.edu from a posting on Dave Farber’s IPer list

As a researcher in the "smart grid" space, I will mention several facts/observations about smart grids:

1) People are throwing solutions out before figuring out what the problems are. Adding billions of $ to the mix (with strange rules to boot - e.g., sizes and $ limits per project) doesn't help. 2) The fundamental thing utilities need to understand when designing systems is what their functional goals are: audit (important in a place like India, with 10-20% theft), monitoring, or control. You need different
designs. These then lead you to the issue of communications design.
It's NOT bandwidth that is the concern, but predictability and reliability. Should the utility own it themselves, or rely on outsiders? I could user outsiders with the former, but is it appropriate for things like control? I don't think so (IMHO). 3) Some of the largest vendors of meters and affiliated technology are behind the curve in technology. Some of the best firms in this space are relatively small.
4) Security cannot be an add-on. Everyone pays lip service to security, just like being "green." But have we developed the right, lightweight solutions?
5) Open standards are going to be critical, else we will end up with $ $, proprietary, and sometimes inferior solutions. 6) Getting communications right in both directions is the key challenge. We need to innovate more! Both directions means from the user/meter to and from the utility. Then, from a user's central point (maybe meter, maybe inside), signaling to appliances and devices.
One has to realize how little the costs could be for smart systems.
Take a smart fridge. No, I don't want it to order milk when my an RFID chip on the milk carton says expired. I just want energy efficiency and load control. If a fridge knows when peak electricity is, then there is no reason it should run the compressor, or five times worse, the defrost cycle, during peak periods. Extra cost at the fridge level for the intelligence AND short-range communications? A few dollars (if built to standards in high volume). The issue is chicken- and-egg. Who signals, where, and how is an unanswered Q. The utility?
Governement? A neutral grid operator? Consumer aggregators (energy service providers)? Or the consumer himself/herself?
I think automated systems that don't rely on humans are going to work better than people staring at a household display (thermostat/meter) to take actions. As a consumer, I should be in charge of that, unless
I am willing to give the utility or a 3rd party such control.
Certainly price signals are important. Here Time of Use is not as good as Real-time (near real time) since (1) ToU can become a self- negating prophecy and (2) only the latter can deal with unforeseen events.
A relatively sophisticated (but low bandwidth) solution is important.
We need bidirectional communications once we go beyond automated metering as a goal. For starters, you need that if you consider communications security. You need to have touchless upgrades and security enhancements - a meter will last 15-20 years. Can anyone
swap out a network key with a one-way radio broadcast and verify it?
Bidirectional is also important when we consider compliance (if not "theft"). I'm not talking the India or Nigeria kind. I remember a story about direct load control in the Detroit area in the early 1920s or 30s. The utility would pay people to let it control their water heaters or other such load, using analog radio signals. People then figured out they could get paid but yet have no discomfort if they just put aluminum foil over the receiver!

The good news is the amount of load control we need to make a difference isn't much. Avoiding blackouts is cutting loads of maybe 5-10% or so. Saving 5% of PEAK electricity is (rule of thumb) some 25% of generation costs.
Rahul

>



CISCO: SMART GRID WILL ECLIPSE SIZE OF INTERNET Cisco sees a $100 billion market opportunity in the smart grid. The company make communications equipment for the electricity grid -- everything from routers in grid substations to home energy controllers. Cisco's move is a sign that the creaky electricity distribution system is poised for a digital upgrade. Other high-tech companies, including IBM, Intel, and several start-ups, are ramping up smart-grid efforts to capitalize on expected investments from utilities and federal governments. Cisco estimates that the communications portion of that build-out is worth $20 billion a year over the next five years. The idea of the "smart grid" is to modernize the electricity industry by overlaying digital communications onto the grid. Smart meters in a person's home, for example, can communicate energy usage to utilities in near real time. That allows the utility to more efficiently manage the electricity supply and potentially allow a consumer to take advantage of cheaper rates.

>

Courtesy of the Benton Foundation RSS Feed:

Electricity consumption by consumer electronics exceeds that of traditional appliances in many homes

[More alarming data on the contribution of ICT, especially consumer devices to energy consumption and resultant CO2 emissions. We know that demand for ICT products and services will grow much faster than growth rate of overall economy. Will energy efficiency be able to keep pace with this growth in demand for ICT equipment, especially as ICT is also used for energy reduction and CO2 abatement? Already consumer electronics are predicted to produce approximately 1/6 of CO2 in the US. Excerpts from Globe and Mail and IEA press releases—BSA]


http://www.iea.org/journalists/headlines.asp
IEA - Rising numbers of electronic gadgets undo efficiency gains
Reporting about the new IEA publication Gadgets and Gigawatts which finds that the rapidly growing number of televisions, laptops and other electronic devices will triple energy consumption by 2030, the newswire quotes.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090513.wgadgetsstaff0513/BNStory/Technology/home

Power alarm over home electronics
In a report yesterday, the Paris-based IEA urged governments around the world to quickly adopt new standards that would make electronic devices such as televisions, laptops and game consoles more energy efficient.
All those PlayStations that are hooked up in the family rooms of the nation are notorious energy vampires. So, too, are the chargers that are needed to keep juiced the iPods, cellphones, laptops and cordless phones that are staples of modern living.
In its report yesterday, the International Energy Agency said the boom in electronics threatens to undermine efforts to reduce residential power demand and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
“Despite anticipated improvements in the efficiency of electronic devices, these savings are likely to be overshadowed by the rising demand for technology” in both the rich world and developing countries, IEA president Nobuo Tanaka said in a release.
Residential power demand is soaring with the proliferation of MP3 players, home video games, set-top boxes, wireless routers, portable phones and flat-screen, high-definition digital televisions. In the typical rich-world household, electricity demand from consumer electronics now far exceeds the amount of power used by appliances like fridges and dishwashers.
Last year, the world spent $80-billion (U.S.) on electricity to power these household electronics, and that is expected to grow to $200-billion by 2030. To meet the demand would require the output of 200 new power plants, and would double greenhouse gas emissions to one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

http://www.iea.org/w/bookshop/add.aspx?id=361
Gadgets and Gigawatts -- Policies for Energy Efficient Electronics, ISBN 978-92-64-05953-5, paper €100, PDF €80 (2009)
Type: Studies
Subject: CO2 Emissions ; Electricity ; Energy Efficiency ; Sustainable Development
By 2010 there will be over 3.5 billion mobile phones subscribers, 2 billion TVs in use around the world and 1 billion personal computers. Electronic devices are a growing part of our lives and many of us can count between 20 and 30 separate items in our homes, from major items like televisions to a host of small gadgets. The communication and entertainment benefits these bring are not only going to people in wealthier nations - in Africa, for example, one in nine people now has a mobile phone. But as these electronic devices gain popularity, they account for a growing portion of household energy consumption.

How “smart” is this equipment from an energy efficiency perspective and should we be concerned about how much energy these gadgets use? What is the potential for energy savings?

This new book, Gadgets and Gigawatts: Policies for Energy Efficient Electronics, includes a global assessment of the changing pattern in residential electricity consumption over the past decade and an in-depth analysis of the role played by electronic equipment. It reviews the influence that government policies have had on creating markets for more energy efficient appliances and identifies new opportunities for creating smarter, more energy efficient homes. This book is essential reading for policy makers and others interested in improving the energy efficiency of our ho

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Using Carbon offsets to fund network services, cyber-infrastructure and ICT equipment

[If you have been following the development of the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill in the US Congress you will note that they are proposing that organizations who are regulated to emit CO2 will be required to purchase $1.25 in offsets for every $1.00 they acquire in emission permits. It is expected that Canada will follow the US lead in the adoption of a North American cap and trade market.

Most research universities in the US will have to register as primary emitters under the proposed EPA regulations for all institutions that emit over 25,000 mtCO2e. A typical research university can produce as much as 500,000 tons CO2 (both Scope 1 and Scope 2) of which cyber-infrastructure and ICT can contribute 300,000 tons (mostly Scope 2). Many research universities also have their own power and heating plants.

According to data from Cisco , business ICT in buildings is also a major culprit, as buildings account for 50% of all CO2 emission of which 25% can be attributed to ICT equipment (not counting cooling)

It is estimated that 15-20% of Waxman-Markey cap and trade will be spent on these offsets which could represent billions of dollars in potential revenue. Cyber-infrastructure and ICT is the one sector where we can quickly move to a zero carbon strategy by moving to clouds, virtualization and de-materialization (see my posting on Kindle DX) where the underlying cyber-infrastructure is located at zero carbon data centers connected to universities through high capacity, low latency R&E networks. The costs of such a strategy including network capacity could be easily paid for by the carbon offsets, and perhaps permit offsets as well – but what is needed is well defined protocol and methodology to measure, quantify and audit the offsets. One of the major problem with today’s carbon offset market is the lack of transparency and audibility. Today’s offset markets are riddled with fraud and bogus claims of CO2 reduction. What is needed is a rigorous process to quantify and qualify the offset claims (this is particularly true of many claims about energy efficiency). The ISO 14064 standards are the de facto process for doing this, but we need specific protocols to be adopted under these standards to address ICT and cyber-infrastructure. CANARIE’s upcoming Green IT pilot hopes to start this process to enable universities and business to learn how to calculate carbon offsets and develop ISO 14064 protocols for virtualization, clouds, networks etc. It may even be possible to use “virtual” offsets where ICT companies and networks offer products in service in exchange of offsets instead of cash –BSA]

More reading on Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill and offsets
http://climateprogress.org/2009/05/12/waxman-markey-domestic-offsets/

More on Amazon Kindle DX from Slashdot
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/09/1615247

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what's the noblest Amazon Kindle DX project of all? While other universities announced similar programs, Princeton is boasting its project is unique in that it will focus on sustainability by reducing the amount of electronic-reserve course materials that students print. Under the pilot program, $60,000 will reportedly be used to provide 50 lucky Princeton students with $489 Kindle DX devices loaded with materials for three courses. In a FAQ, students are told not to worry about 'this time of severe economic constraints' — Princeton and Amazon have managed to tap into a fund specifically endowed to support sustainability projects to provide Kindles at no cost. In addition to a $30,000 grant from the High Meadows Foundation, which is headed by Princeton alum Carl Ferenbach (who, coincidentally, serves on the Board of Trustees of the Environmental Defense Fund with the wife of Amazon Director John Doerr), a matching amount will be provided by Princeton alum Jeff Bezos' Amazon. The E-reader Pilot Program has more information


http://blogs.msdn.com/see/archive/2009/03/31/software-downloads-help-microsoft-and-customers-reduce-carbon-footprint.aspx
Software Downloads Help Microsoft and Customers Reduce Carbon Footprint
Today, Microsoft released the results of a comparative carbon footprint study which found significant environmental benefits to providing its software to consumers online. The study concluded that downloading Office 2007 avoided 8 times the amount of carbon emissions compared to producing and shipping a DVD and its associated packaging through traditional retail distribution channels.
The study determined that carbon emissions avoided through online purchasing of 10 million copies is equivalent to:
• the electric consumption of 7,715 US households, or
• 13,008 passengers cars driven in one year, or
• 231 acres of avoided Amazon rainforest deforestation.
Microsoft worked with its partners, Accenture and WSP Environment & Energy, to apply leading standards for product carbon footprinting in accounting for greenhouse gas emissions arising from the complete lifecycle of its software products. Based on several distribution scenarios, the study captures carbon emissions associated with the raw materials, production, distribution, customer purchase, and end-of-life processes for 10 million off-the shelf retail software products. Microsoft then compared these results to the online delivery model for 10 million downloads, accounting for the data centers used for hosting software downloads and even the energy used by a consumer’s personal computer to download the Office 2007 program. Not surprisingly, transportation and packaging materials were identified as the largest contributors to carbon emissions for the off-the-shelf product. Avoided carbon emissions associated with downloading 1 copy of Office 2007 are roughly equal to 1 gallon of gas.
Read more at http://us20.trymicrosoftoffice.com/go-green/

Japan to build massive cloud infrastructure for e-government as a Green ICT strategy

[Japan has launched a massive ICT stimulus package of which a key component will be Green ICT focused around a nation wide “private” cloud for e-government. The use of private clouds gets around the many concerns of privacy and security. Kudos to Japan government for this initiative. Some excerpts – BSA]


http://www.greentelecomlive.com/2009/05/13/japan-to-build-massive-cloud-infrastructure-for-e-government/


Japan to build massive cloud infrastructure for e-government

In a document that outlines a Digital Japan Creation Project, dubbed the ICT Hatoyama Plan, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications revealed plans to build a massive cloud computing infrastructure to support all of the government’s IT systems.
Called tentatively the Kasumigaseki Cloud, the new infrastructure will be built in stages from now until 2015. The goal of the project consolidate all government IT systems into a single cloud infrastructure to improve operation efficiency and reduce cost.
“The Kasumigaseki Cloud will enable various ministries to collaborate to integrate and consolidate hardware and create platforms for shared functions,” the MIC said. “Efforts will be made to efficiently develop and operate information systems with the aim of greatly reducing electronic government–related development and operating costs while increasing the pace of processing by integrating shared functions, increasing collaboration among systems, and providing secure and advanced governmental services.”
According to the MIC, the Kasumigaseki Cloud will eliminate the need for individual ministries to maintain their own IT systems by consolidating current data centres, and allow each ministries to use only the computer resources necessary through the cloud platform.
Additional proposals were put forth to develop and implement ubiquitous Green ICT solutions, including initiatives like the Kasumigaseki Cloud, boost ICT human resources, and the creation of “safe and secure networks” for the public.

Alarming new data depict a worsening climate crisis

[It is not only Al Gore that is raising the alarm about worrying climate trends, but new data from the National Academies of Science, MIT and other sources point to similar trends. We don’t have the luxury of waiting until 2050 to undertake serious climate action. Drastic steps are required now, in all aspects of society including universities and research networks – BSA]

At TED2009, Al Gore presents updated slides from around the globe to make the case that worrying climate trends are even worse than scientists predicted, and to make clear his stance on "clean coal". (Recorded at TED2009, February 2009, in Long Beach, California. Duration: 7:44.)
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TEDBlog/~3/UkUwC_RvGII/alarming_new_sl.php



Preparing for the next 911 catastrophe – some useful pointers:

Obama’s National Science Advisor John Holdren on Global Climate Disruption
http://greenmonk.net/john-holdren-on-global-climatic-disruption/
Stephen Chu – new head of DoE – “Wake up America!!”
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/california-agriculture-global-warming-47020402
MIT report predicts median temperature forecast of 5.1C
http://globalchange.mit.edu/pubs/abstract.php?publication_id=990
Last Ice age average global temperature was 6C cooler than today
Most of Canada was under 2-3 km ice

USGS Abrupt Climate Change report finds that future climate shifts have been underestimated and warns of debilitating abrupt shift in climate that would be devastating.
– http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap3-4/final-report/default.htm
– http://climateprogress.org/2008/11/24/what-are-the-near-term-climate-pearl-harbors/
Tipping elements in the Earth's climate -National Academies of Science
– http://www.pnas.org/content/105/6/1786.abstract?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=tipping+elements+lenton&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT
“Society may be lulled into a false sense of security by smooth projections of global change. Our synthesis of present knowledge suggests that a variety of tipping elements could reach their critical point within this century under anthropogenic climate change.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

More on how the new Kindle DX can help reduce CO2 at universities

[Several people pointed out an error in my calculations. Carbon is priced per metric ton not by pound. The carbon offset value of placing a textbook on Kindle is about 25 cents per textbook with carbon at $100 per ton. If the Kindle can hold 1000 textbooks then the carbon offset value is about $250, which is still significant – but not thousands of dollars. But I still believe the real value for the Kindle is in gCommerce application where the Kindle DX and its content can be given away for free to students and faculty in exchange for them reducing their personal carbon footprint, for example by taking public transportation, or paying a premium on parking and faculty travel. Collatech is live on second Life – watch for my avatar. – BSA]


Collabtech Conference
http://www.case.edu/its/collabtech09/

The carbon footprint of textbooks, paper etc
http://www.stewartmarion.com/carbon-footprint/html/carbon-footprint-stuff.html
One pound of printer paper generates 4 pounds of CO2; one pound of newspaper produces 3 pounds of CO2; one pound of textbooks produces 5 pounds of CO2; one pound of 20oz plastic bottles creates 1 pound of carbon dioxide; and one pound of aluminum cans produces 5 pounds of carbon dioxide.


Amazon’s Kindle DX
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Amazons-Wireless-Generation/dp/B0015TCML0

How the new Kindle DX can help reduce CO2 at universities

[I am currently at the very exciting Collabtech Conference at Case Western which is about using information and network technologies for collaborative research and education. This morning Case Western announced a partnership with Amazon to deploy the Kindle DX. Amazon has made arrangements with a number of textbook publishers to make textbooks available on the Kindle for students at Case Western. Not only with this improve access to the textbooks, lower their costs and save student backs, but it will also help to significantly reduce the university’s carbon footprint. According to a study at the Babcock School of Business the production and shipping of average textbook result in 5 pounds of CO2. This means that if carbon is $20 a ton, the carbon offset value of making a textbook available on Kindle is $100, and if carbon trades at $100 per ton, as is expected to happen to the price of carbon with cap and trade then the offset value is $500 per textbook. One Kindle can hold hundreds, if not thousands of textbooks and other documents – so the offset value of a single Kindle can be worth thousands of dollars! (Of course you have to discount life cycle CO2 cost of Kindle itself and additionality of the extra textbooks). There are only 160 students at the Babcock School of Business and they estimate the carbon footprint is 45 tons per year for the textbooks purchased by these students. But not only does the Kindle have a direct CO2 reduction potential it can also be used a powerful tool for “gCommerce” applications where the Kindle DX and its content can be given away for free to students and faculty in exchange for them reducing their personal carbon footprint, for example by taking public transportation, or paying a premium on parking and faculty travel. Collatech is live on second Life – watch for my avatar. – BSA]


Collabtech Conference
http://www.case.edu/its/collabtech09/

The carbon footprint of textbooks, paper etc
http://www.stewartmarion.com/carbon-footprint/html/carbon-footprint-stuff.html
One pound of printer paper generates 4 pounds of CO2; one pound of newspaper produces 3 pounds of CO2; one pound of textbooks produces 5 pounds of CO2; one pound of 20oz plastic bottles creates 1 pound of carbon dioxide; and one pound of aluminum cans produces 5 pounds of carbon dioxide.


Amazon’s Kindle DX
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Amazons-Wireless-Generation/dp/B0015TCML0

Al Gore to Keynote 22nd Annual Supercomputing & Networking Conference, SC09

[Al Gore was instrumental in raising consciousness in the 2 most important planet changing issues of the last 50 years – the Internet and Climate Change. He now brings these two themes together at his upcoming talk at SC09 in Portland, which I think confirms the critical role that research Cyber-infrastructure and the Internet will play in addressing the challenge of climate change. SC09 is the preeminent conference for cyber-infrastructure involving supercomputing and advanced networks. Thanks to Harvey Newman for this pointer – BSA]

Al Gore to Keynote 22nd Annual Supercomputing Conference, SC09
http://www.computer.org/portal/site/ieeecs/menuitem.c5efb9b8ade9096b8a9ca0108bcd45f3/index.jsp?&pName=ieeecs_level1&path=ieeecs/press/April09&file=algore.xml&xsl=brief_display.xsl&

PORTLAND, Ore.—27 April, 2009 – SC09, the 22nd annual event in the SC conference series, recognized globally as the premier international conference on high performance computing, networking, storage and analysis, announced today it has selected former U.S. Vice President Al Gore to deliver the conference keynote address.
SC09 has adopted the theme of “Computing for a Changing World,” and will present a special focus on initiatives related to Sustainability, Bio-Computing and the 3D Internet.
Gore will deliver the keynote presentation on Thursday, 19 November for the anticipated crowd of 11,000 attendees made up of leading computational scientists, researchers, and supercomputing experts from around the globe, many of whom work on High Performance Computing (HPC) platforms and supercomputers researching life-changing issues such as disease understanding, drug discovery, renewable energy, and global climate change.
Gore has been an evangelist on global climate and energy-related issues since the 1980s. He has lectured around the globe and his climate change documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” won an Academy Award and was instrumental in his selection as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
“Al Gore has been a champion of applied computing technology for more than two decades,” said Dr. Wilfred Pinfold, General Chair of SC09. “The High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991, often referred to as ‘The Gore Bill’ was undoubtedly a milestone in Internet history. That bill led to formation of the National Information Infrastructure (NII), which Gore labeled the Information Superhighway. We are honored to name Al Gore as our SC09 keynote speaker.”
About SC09
SC09 will be held 14-20 November, 2009 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. SC09 is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society and ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), and offers a complete technical education program and exhibition to showcase the many ways high performance computing, networking, storage and analysis lead to advances in scientific discovery, research, education and commerce.
This premier international conference includes a globally attended technical program, workshops, tutorials, an exhibit area, demonstrations and hands-on learning. The SC conference series is among Tradeshow Week magazine’s Top 200 events. For more information on SC09, please visit http://sc09.supercomputing.org/.
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